Digital cameras usually have a zoom capability built into them and better digital cameras have two zoom facilities. These are known as optical zoom and digital zoom. The two methods of zooming operate in different ways and the novice frequently finds the distinction confusing. In this piece, we will examine the two sorts and discuss the benefits or otherwise of them.

The first thing to realize is that the optical zoom is a physical product. It is similar to using a telescope. The lens actually moves and makes the picture appear nearer.

It magnifies the picture without decreasing the quality of that photo. It is the same mechanism that you used to get on expensive 35 mm SLR cameras.

The optical zoom is the zoom that you want for your camera and the stronger the zoom the better. The power of the optical zoom is normally expressed as a number such as ‘x5′. If you have a costly digital SLR (DSLR) or digital single-lens reflex camera, you will be able to swap the regular lens for a telephoto lens and have much more optical zoom – at a price. Additional lenses are expensive, but a lot better.

A digital zoom is a completely different idea. A digital zoom is an electrical enhancement and is similar to holding a powerful magnifying glass over a developed, printed photograph.

Test it with a newspaper photograph, the results are pretty disappointing. However, the factors that determine how well digital zoom works are: resolution and strength of zoom.

The higher the resolution of the picture, which is measured in megapixels, the more digital zoom you can apply to the picture without losing too much image quality.

Digital zoom can be applied on board the camera or later in a photo manipulation program, unlike optical zoom which can just be done through the camera’s lens.

Some camera manufacturers attempt to blur the difference between these zoom functions by quoting ‘total zoom. Total zoom might be x10, which sounds fantastic until you wade through the instruction manual to find out that the camera has x8 digital zoom and x2 optical zoom. Do not trust total zoom figures without being able to break them down into the component parts.

In fact, it is best to turn digital zoom off, because it is frequently an automatic augmentation to optical zoom. So, for example, you are applying zoom to a shot, but if you accidentally pass the OZ capabilities of your camera, it will apply DZ and that could spoil your photo.

Turning DZ off does not mean that you can’t use it. Digital cameras come with picture manipulation software, so if you would like to use DZ, load your pictures into the computer program and improve them from there.

The capabilities available within the program are far better than those on board the camera anyway and you can keep the original photograph as well

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on lots of topics, but is at present concerned with cameras for beginning photographers. If you have an interest in photography, please go over to our website now at Photography Studio Cameras

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